Graham's First Days

For months people would see me and say, "just wait until you see how much fun it is being a grandparent" Well, they were right!  It's only been 19 days and I have been loving every minute, and also trying to document it for the future with every possibility.  Graham Raymond Campli was born on December 29th in the wee hours of the morning to his loving parents, Brittany and Adam Wheaton, in Mayfield Heights Ohio, just 30 minutes from their home in Peninsula. Because we live a bit longer drive away in Malvern, I have had the pleasure of driving the turnpike several times already to get my Graham fix.  The thing is, I really can't get enough.  It seems like so long ago that I was holding Brittany in that little hospital blanket that everyone instantly recognizes with a brand new little human wrapped inside.  The feeling of your child, now giving birth to a child of her own is just indescribable. We were ready and waiting back at our new vacation home (Britt & Adam's place!) for the call from the new dad that it was time to come and meet the baby. By sometime before dawn, we raced to the hospital and arrived at the very same time as Dan and Andrea (the other proud grandparents) to meet this little miracle.  He was just perfect and I think we all counted our blessings at that moment. 

The next days, were just a delight in every way. Val and I visited Graham in the hospital several times, and then prepared for his home coming, which really only consisted of cleaning up the house and getting some balloons to celebrate. When the new family pulled into the driveway, Rocco was there staring out the window to see what the excitement was all about.  I was ready with the camera and Val was in charge of capturing video.  What a fun few days we had celebrating this life and a new year. I got busy right away with the plans for the first portrait shoot, while Val put on her GiGi hat of cooking and cooking. We managed to drive Adam crazy by taking way more photographs than my normal amount, but he is starting to get the idea that this photo thing isn't going away. Graham has officially only had two full photo shoots during his first two weeks, and here is a look at those and some of the documentary images of his first days.